Getting a Fully-funded Masters Scholarship in Non-Obvious Places/Unknown Terrains

When it comes to locations to study abroad, many people quickly consider the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and Germany. These are countries with good reputations for quality education. However, good opportunities also lie in countries that are not thought to have a good education. In this article, I will discuss my first-hand experience exploring one of such locations: Taiwan.

It may interest you to know that Taiwan has been rated among the top 10 welcoming countries and the 10 best countries to study abroad. The city of Taipei in Taiwan was ranked the most affordable city for students in 2015 and was rated as the Number one city in the world for expats to live and work abroad. The following paragraphs detail my journey of securing a scholarship from a top 10 rated university in the country.

The Genesis

On the 8th of March 2016, I emailed professors of the Electrical and Electronic Engineering department at CCU, requesting supervision. This was a generic email; my salutation was “Dear Prof” and I bcc’ed all the professors that were working in areas I was interested in. Now I have learnt (and advise) not to send generic emails. Luckily though, I received a response from the Administrative Assistant of the Department of Electrical Engineering who thanked me for showing interest in the research group—Signal Processing and Multimedia Communication—and offered to help me submit my application for admission.

The Process

She sent me the application form and asked me to fill and submit it to her within 10 days. The form had sections asking about educational background, English language proficiency, and personal statement. Normally, you are to provide three (3) referees’ contact; CCU however, asked for two (2) recommendation letters prepared by different referees. I was pursuing a direct PhD as at then so I filled a PhD as my preferred program of interest. I was thinking I could go for an integrated MS&PhD or a direct PhD as some schools do.

Here was the response I got along these lines:

Yes, we do have an integrated MS&PhD, and you need to apply for a master’s program and become our graduate student at the beginning. After one semester of studying the master’s program of EE, you can submit the application form for our PhD program every June 15. But you need to be approved by your advisor, chair, and Committee of Academic Affairs of EE.

After the head of International Students’ Affairs at National Chung Cheng University (NCCU) went through the application, he requested that I submit more documents. I was then to wait for a response from the department‘s Committee of Academic Affairs in a month’s time.

The Suspense

 I was eventually contacted about my passing the stage-1 (department) review.

I was advised to take the following steps early:

1. Contact potential thesis advisor

The department was interested in my research background and could provide me a research assistant (RA) scholarship. I was advised to contact professors (with similar research backgrounds) early on so that I could find my true research interest via extensive discussions with them. This could be done before (via e-mail) or after (via face-to-face) I enroll at NCCU. I was given the name and profile link of one of the professors that showed interest in my research background— who happened to be one of those I had contacted in my initial email.

2. Research Assistantship (RA) position

In addition to a full tuition waiver and free on-campus accommodation (for a year), the RA position from an individual advisor’s project funding plays a key financial support to an international student. I was strongly encouraged to contact the professors of my department for available RA positions before or upon my arrival at NCCU. Normally, more opportunities for full RA scholarships were given to early birds.

The Offering

On the 1st of July 2016, I received an email notifying me that I had won the scholarship. This was followed by the scholarship confirmation letter and the award letter. I was offered a fully-funded scholarship covering tuition fees and stipend for the first year (first two semesters) after which my academic performance would be reviewed. The basic requirement for continuing the scholarship was maintaining an average grade above 75%. My potential thesis advisor also reached out to me with a research assistantship offer (a separate financial support that is given by advisors).

The Aftermath

I was assigned a learning partner from NCCU who was to help me tackle any challenge that I may experience before settling in at the University. I eventually did not take up the offer because I accepted a place at a UK university instead. I wrote to my supervisor and admissions unit to inform them of my position. The experience however taught me a few lessons. The main one is what I already mentioned at the start—there could be gold in unlikely places. Information is key and it is good to look beyond your horizon for opportunities.

To know areas for further improvements in the application process, a questionnaire specifically for students admitted into National Chung Cheng University was sent to me.

Their system was well organized. I think it is possible to reach out to the admissions team without first contacting the professors. After you pass stage one departmental review, they will still require you to contact the professors anyway. These could however be pursued simultaneously – reaching out to the administrative assistant of the department as well as the professors of interest.